


when dawn breaks, you’ll know?

by LazuliAlekto



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-29
Updated: 2017-09-29
Packaged: 2019-01-06 20:04:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 858
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12217956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LazuliAlekto/pseuds/LazuliAlekto
Summary: Ignis Scientia had never in all their years together lied to Noctis Lucis Caelum.  Until right at this moment.





	when dawn breaks, you’ll know?

**Author's Note:**

> inspired by the heartbreaking little conversation between Noctis and Ignis about whether Ignis will know that the Dawn has come.  
> I bawled.

  Ignis Scientia had never in all their years together lied to Noctis Lucis Caelum.  Until right at this moment.

  Even now it wasn't exactly lying; however, it was a twisting of the truth. Semantics. The ambiguity of it was like a dagger to his stomach and he schooled his expression to stay blank, something he had learned to do after Altissia. He hated untruths, lack of clarity, ambiguity, lies. He’d always preferred things to be upfront, clear, exact, precise. Brutal as it could be, it was the way he liked things. But not now, not this time. He knew Noct could read him better than anyone else, years of familiarity with each other giving them both a sort of sixth sense about what the other was experiencing, so he purposely faced Noctis and held his head high, to look away a sure sign that something wasn’t right. They couldn’t lie to each other, had never thought to lie. It wasn’t necessary between them. Ignis hoped with all his heart that Noct accepted what he said, believed the lie that slipped from his lips. Because, for Ignis, this subtle twisting of the truth was vital. In some ways, it was the most important thing he would say this day to the man who was his King in more ways than one. They had said their goodbyes the night before, a few stolen moments of privacy away from their companions, moments that Ignis would treasure and add to his compilation of memories, of long nights in each other's arms, the way his face looked in ecstasy, the way his voice sounded, fleeting kisses when no-one saw, words spoken in secret, smiles that only he knew the meaning of.  It was all stored away.   Right now though, his lover needed reassurance and Ignis would give it to him, his own comfort be damned by the Six. He knew why Noctis asked what he did, just as he knew why he had to lie in response. It was a little blanket of warmth they could wrap themselves in to hold off the cold of the knowledge that his King was going to mount those steps up to the Citadel and…die. One last comfort that Ignis could offer him before his blood sacrifice to save the world.

Noct had felt so guilty about Ignis losing his sight in Altissia, felt it was his fault, though Ignis had tried to assure him it was a small sacrifice in the greater battle. He had truly meant that. The Advisor would do anything for Noctis. And it could have been worse. None of his companions knew exactly how bad his sight was, he had blatantly refused to discuss it. They obviously thought he could see a little, sense things in the darkness, particularly as he was so unerring in his ability to pinpoint where Noctis was.

  “Hey Ignis, you can sense light, right?” Noct had asked him as they traversed the silent, rubble strewn streets of their home.  Hopeful, hesitant.

  They didn’t know that his darkness was absolute.  Noctis didn’t know and if Ignis had his way, he never would.

  “To a degree, yes,” he answered Noctis, facing him, resolute in his conviction that this was the right thing to say.  He would never know that the only light that Ignis had ever been able to see or sense after the tragedy of Altissia and the covenant with Leviathan was the crystalline blue of his King, like the afterimage of Noctis warping.  He’d worked so hard for ten years to be competent again, regain what he had lost.  He used his other senses to cover for the one he’d lost and no-one knew, no-one had ever guessed that he lived in total darkness.  It was a misconception that the blind or deaf become sharper in their other senses.  It was simply that they had to rely on them more and trust in them more, so they paid _attention_ to what was going on around them.  Air currents, little noises, vibrations, smell and taste, all clues to distance and position, size and shape.

  “So, when dawn breaks, you’ll know?” Noctis questioned him and Ignis held his breath for a moment, listening for any clue that he hadn’t been believed.  There was sadness there, but not despair. The relief present in his voice would ensure that Ignis would never regret the lie, the only time he had ever lied to his friend, lover, first Prince, now King.

  “Yes.”  He would know, not by the returning Dawn, but by the absence of Noctis.  He might feel warmth but it would be no different than standing near a lamp while it was switched on, the heat alerting him to it, not any change in the darkness that surrounded him.  He kept his face towards Noctis and mapped his features outlined in the blue glow, noting the changes, etching them into his memory, overlapping the old image he had of this man, a man he loved above everything else, his King.

  “Just making sure,” Noctis said and Ignis fell into step beside him as they headed for the Citadel steps. 

 


End file.
